Trent Bridge

Three Changes As Outlaws Prepare To Face Tykes

Match Preview | 19th March 2012

The Nottinghamshire side to face Yorkshire on Monday shows three changes from the eleven that were defeated by Warwickshire in the tour opener on Saturday.

Skipper Chris Read returns to take the gloves, with pace bowlers Luke Fletcher and Andy Carter getting their first opportunities of the tour in a 40-overs per side match at the Four Square Oval.

The three players to make way are Steven Mullaney, Ben Phillips and Jake Ball who, together with George Bacon, will be participating in a practice match involving the spare players from all six county sides that are currently on the island.

Michael Lumb (ankle) and Alex Hales (knee) continue to have treatment to slight knocks, although director of cricket Mick Newell was keen to emphasise that if they’d been required to play in a championship match tomorrow then both would be considered fit enough to start.

Newell is expecting an improved performance from some of the front-line batsmen against the White Rose county. “We had a number of players who scored between 18 and 32 on Saturday”, he said. “If one individual had gone on and made a score of fifty or sixty we probably would have won and that’s what we would be expecting in a normal competitive match. I’m hoping that some of them start to take responsibility for putting a good score on the board.”

The inclusion of both Fletcher and Carter will provide some different options with the ball, an area that Newell was pleased about against the Bears. “I was pretty happy with the bowling and fielding and that level of performance needs to be maintained now.”

Opponents Yorkshire arrived in the Caribbean last Monday evening and have brought sufficient squad members to have already played a full two-day match amongst themselves. England ODI star Jonny Bairstow scored a typically punishing 162 and Joe Sayers helped himself to a century, as the Sayers XI defeated an Andrew Gale XI earlier in the week.

With the likes of former Outlaw Ryan Sidebottom, plus Ajmal Shahzad and Adil Rashid likely to be included in the Tykes bowling attack, the Notts top order will face a stern examination but Newell isn’t too concerned.

“At this stage it doesn’t matter who we play. I’m just looking forward to a good day’s cricket and hope the facilities and pitch are as good as we found at Windward Cricket Club.”